Saturday, November 26, 2011

Usually I don't use colored cocoa butter transfer sheets. I feel they make chocolate not look so hot because it hides behind the design. Plus I have never seen a design that is not tacky that I find appealing. HOWEVER, when I tried them out on this Italian meringue I surprised, in a good way, mostly because I didn't know if it'd work on anything but chocolate. This is a simple 2-1 ratio Italian meringue evenly spread on the transfer sheet (this image on the transfer sheet I actually liked; how could you not appreciate the perfection of a honeycomb?), then carefully placed it inside a PVC tube to dry in a dehydrator at 40 degrees Celsius for 12 hours.
I can see many possibilities for this, mostly for a la minute pick-ups, but also could be filled with a sorbet or ice cream (or other frozen dessert) and quickly frozen to preserve the crispness of the meringue. A flavored meringue is also a possibility (I would like to make a green tea meringue filled with black sesame ice cream).

Thursday, November 17, 2011

I've been working on the items I will be teaching this February at the EPGB to document them and make sure they are up to par. This is one of the items. It is a large format tart, with Salted Caramel, Light Ganache, Coconut Panna Cotta (the cubes) and small quenelles of Creme Fraiche. It is sprayed with dark chocolate and white chocolate velvet. The herbs used are fried basil and crystallized fennel fronds.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Why is it that the base of a chocolate confection is often neglected? I think it is as important as the rest of the piece. This is why I am trying out this method in which I use a textured transfer sheet on the base just after capping the mold with tempered chocolate. I really like it.